The present invention relates to basketball apparatus that in one form of the use thereof provides for the automatic return to a player of a basketball that is shot toward a basket by the player, thereby enabling the player to retrieve a basketball without moving from a selected position.
Oftentimes, basketball players wish to improve their shooting skills by devoting additional time only to shooting a ball at a basket, but in the absence of a fellow player, the player who has to practice alone expends an unreasonable amount of time in chasing and retrieving the ball after each shot. Prior to the instant invention, some efforts have been made to provide basketball retrieval apparatus by which a basketball, as shot by a player toward a hoop and backboard, is automatically directed back to the player for re-shooting of the ball. In order to capture the ball for return to the player as it rebounds from the backboard or hoop, some efforts have also been made to incorporate a netting assembly by which the ball is returned directly to the player after bouncing off the backboard or rim and into the netting. In this connection, the Woodall U.S. Pat. No. 4,838,549, and Joseph U.S. Pat. No. 5,016,875, are of interest since they generally disclose this type of apparatus. In the Woodall patent a portable retrieval device is illustrated having a netting arrangement which is located in encircling relation around the backboard, the netting directing the rebounded ball to a return chute which returns the ball to the player located at the outermost end of the chute. In the Woodall patent, the device is also movable on a wheeled frame to various locations relative to the backboard, so as to provide for different angle shots for the player thereby simulating shot situations found in the actual play of the game. Although the Woodall device provides for the capture of the ball after each shot, the entrance-way to the basket is obscured, and a simulated angle shot can only be accomplished by physically moving the apparatus relative to the backboard, which requires more time and effort than that required for the player to actually retrieve the ball in the normal practice routine.
The U.S. Patent to Joseph also discloses a portable basketball retrieval device which includes a netting assembly that is disposed adjacent to a backboard that is supported at the uppermost end of the frame of the device. Although the Joseph netting assembly directs a ball that rebounds from the backboard into a return chute, at the end of which a player is positioned for replay of the ball, the netting obscures the view to the basket, and since the Joseph apparatus is portable and has the backboard mounted thereon, the player cannot make simulated angle shots.
Other U.S. Patents have also been granted on various types of basketball retrieval devices, none of which are relevant with respect to the subject invention. These McNab U.S. Pat. No. 3,776,550; Caveney U.S. Pat. No. 3,902,506; Cohen U.S. Pat. No. 4,291,885; Joseph U.S. Pat. No. 4,667,957; Postol U.S. Pat. No. 4,786,371; Coleman U.S. Pat. No. 4,896,882; Jacobs U.S. Pat. No. 4,913,431; and Goldfarb U.S. Pat. No. 4,955,605.
As will be described hereinafter, the basketball apparatus of the subject invention is uniquely different from the devices illustrated in the aforesaid U.S. Patents, and basically is distinguishable therefrom by providing for the rotatable movement of the backboard that is mounted on a support. Thus, the rotatable movement of the backboard relative to its support enables a player to simulate various angular positions, and different angle shots, that would be experienced in the actual play of the game.